Happy Holidays dear readers. Well since I’ve run out of Gundam shows to do a First Impression on, GundamCember wont be seeing a 4th installment this year. However, given how some forced time off has allowed me to check out more shows, I’ve decided to give everyone a special treat for the holidays. So this December, we’ll be looking at not one but TWO Gundam series. I’m not gonna call it Gundam Month Mark V, I’m saving that for something hopefully in 2021. I guess I could still call this GundamCember, just without the First Impression Friday banner…anyway…
Coming off a decade dominated by Seed users and
Innovators, 2011’s Mobile Suit Gundam AGE was seen as a new jump on point for a
new generation of Gundam fans. On the
one hand, I haven’t heard many good things about this series and it isn’t
nearly as recognized as Gundam Seed or 00 for their innovations to the Gundam
franchise (good and bad). On the other,
I’m constantly intrigued by the idea of doing a multi-era storyline across 49
episodes. Sure the end result will
probably disappoint, but I’m willing to give it a try anyway. So, dear readers, we begin the month of
December with Mobile Suit Gundam AGE.
How is its beginning?
Well, it’s actually very familiar. Or at
the very least it’s a beginning we’ve seen in at least three or four different
shows: the original 0079 Gundam; Gundam Seed and Seed Destiny; and Gundam
Unicorn (maybe I’m forgetting one?).
Basically, the main enemy of the series (Zeon or ZAFT) learn of a super
secret Mobile Suit development project at a peaceful colony and decide to nip
it in the bud ASAP. Chaos reigns, there
are a few fatalities and, one way or another, the main protagonist ends up in
the pilots seat of the Gundam. AGE is no
different, just swap Zeon or ZAFT for the…UE.
I don’t know how I feel about that name “UE” or rather what it stands
for “Unknown Enemy.” Even without
looking ahead at spoilers, I highly doubt these guys who happens to be fans of
Beast Wars like mecha are Aliens. The
Gundam 00 Movie that came out just before AGE already tackled Gundams first
throwdown with extraterrestrials and…well it’s a love it or hate it response
but I’m pretty sure it’s the latter for many.
Gundam was successful in the first place for ditching the Super Robots
vs. Aliens or Monsters trope and focusing on a war amongst humans
themselves. Trying to change the formula
once is alright. Twice in rapid
succession after a mixed response? I
have my doubts.
As I said, AGE is going to take place across multiple time periods over a century, focusing on the men of the Asuno family and their titular Mobile Suits. Our first protagonist is Flit (why does that make me think of Pocahontas’ hummingbird friend from the Disney Movie?). It’s hard to gauge the kid so far because…well, he’s a bit too perfect and yet not instantly memorable like his predecessors: Seed’s Kira Yamato or 00’s Setsuna F. Seiei. Sure Flit’s got personal beef with the UE because they killed his mother. But apparently the kid comes from a long line of Mobile Suit smiths and is put in charge of a very important development project for the military. Not only that, but rather than accidentally falling into the Gundam like Amuro Ray or Kira, Flit is just given the OK to do so without much hesitation from the powers that be. Somehow that doesn’t feel right to me. It’s not helped that the character designs also bother me. Gundam AGE’s story comes from the minds at Video Game Company Level 5, the group behind the popular Professor Layton games. So it’s no wonder Flit and several others look too kid friendly and like they belong in a Mega Man game, especially old mechanic Vargas who I could swear is Doctor Light from the same game. Point is, Flit looks way too young to just be given the keys to the most powerful Mobile Suit in existence without a second thought, I don’t care if he built it or not.
Ok so wow that’s a lot of mixed feelings about Flit, how’s everyone else? Well, others leave more of an impression. The incredibly vain Woolf Enneacle was a bit grating at first but he lightened up after he and Flit worked together to fend off a UE attack. “Captain” Grodek might end up being the most interesting character of the bunch. He’s clearly got his own agenda and isn’t for working with the Earth Federation if their head honchos are going to leave a colony full of civilians to die just to save their own skins. I think, like Flit, Grodek has a personal bone to pick with the UE over lost family (judging from the photo he has by his side) and he’s not putting up with any crap or sacrificing lives needlessly to pull off some long overdue payback. Then there’s Emily. She’s Flit’s oldest friend and obvious love interest. I liked her more in the first half of this set for being a take charge girl who wasn’t going to let an evacuation order keep her from trying to watch Flit back. However, she kind of lost that edge when it became clear Flit wasn’t going to leave the Gundam or the Diva (the mothership) behind. Hopefully she can get Flit to meet her halfway. There were a couple other notable faces introduced, both being of the Newtype flavor of character. There’s Yurin, who kind of gives off a vibe of Tiffa Adill from Gundam X (which I’ll get to in a couple of weeks), and Desil, some creepy Newtype kid who gives off vibes of Damien from The Omen. The fact that he managed to briefly steal the Gundam and is a deadly pilot means he’s gonna be a problem down the line for Flit for sure.
I feel like ive spoken pretty negatively about Gundam AGE’s beginning but I did like some things about it. Again, characters like Grodek, Woolf and Yurin have potential to be break out characters. And for all the childlike character designs, this is still a Gundam series and many of the familiar Gundam tropes are there. A colony is still destroyed in a very terrifying manner and Flit still has to come to terms with being a pilot who is killing combatants in battle. Seeing how the UE is probably going to be revealed as Humans, I imagine Flit, or which ever of his descendants learns it first, will have a pretty big mental breakdown over that akin to Akito in Martian Successor Nadesico. It’s one thing to kill aliens, its another to take the life of another human. The UE might have a dumb name for the time being but their mystery adds a nice bit of ominous terror to them, ill admit. This isn’t a foe with a face like Zeon or the A-Laws. The fact that we have no idea what their overall goal gives the UE a slight edge in the villainy department…we just need to learn what theyre really called so they can quit being called Unknown Enemy. The Gundam AGE itself doesn’t look too bad, a more slimmer version of the basic Gundam design made famous in the original series. This one does come with a special mega 3D Printer that can make custom weapons for the Gundam once it has enough data on the enemy…I think that could make it a little OP but we’ll see. So far it’s only made a decent Beam Rifle that can take out UE Mobile Suits in one shot. Who knows what else it can make. Also, Gundam 00 gets a bit of a shoutout thanks to one UE Commander Unit looking like the Mobile Armor Louise Halavey received towards the end of the show.
Gundam AGE is off to a bit of a rocky start but I’m willing to keep going. At 49 episodes, it’ll be interesting to see how they break down the three main character arcs (and I’ll be reviewing them in that manner as well btw). Right now, Flit has the first fifteen episodes so I wonder how much ground we can cover after we spent three episodes escaping a doomed colony, getting into a Gundam pilot pissing match and dealing with the Newtype Devil spawn…think im starting to see why people don’t really like this one. Good or bad, we’re rolling with it. See you back here tomorrow for more Mobile Suit Gundam AGE.
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